


Melted Hope

by Galrafloofandlove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Light Angst, M/M, Minor Injuries, Missions Gone Wrong, Shance Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galrafloofandlove/pseuds/Galrafloofandlove
Summary: A mission going wrong meant one of two things happened- they had been given incorrect information, or somebody had messed up along the way.They were prepared for those situations. They had the rebels on standby to assist if plans went awry, and lookouts within the base. The lions also had a pretty good track record with alerting their paladin if they sensed danger.They could handle a few extra sentries, they could handle the occasional redirect or changing of plans.Not even Pidge expected this.





	Melted Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Shance Secret Santa gift for Totesunrepentant on Tumblr! 
> 
> I wanted to do a lot more with this, but some health issues arose and I wanted to get this out! My apologies it's not everything it should've been. 
> 
> Nevertheless, enjoy.

A mission going wrong meant one of two things happened- they had been given incorrect information, or somebody had messed up along the way. 

They were prepared for those situations. They had the rebels on standby to assist if plans went awry, and lookouts within the base. The lions also had a pretty good track record with alerting their paladin if they sensed danger. 

They could handle a few extra sentries, they could handle the occasional redirect or changing of plans. 

Not even Pidge expected this. 

The mission was simply to get information from a supposed abandoned base. It was an easy objective, all they had to do was get to the heart of the ship, protect Pidge while she hacked through their firewalls, grab the info, and get out. 

Lance, Allura, Hunk and Shiro were on lookout duty while Pidge hacked in. Except they quickly lost connection with Pidge. 

Allura contacted the castle to see if Coran could help in any way. Hunk started to panic, before joining Allura to educate Coran on the issue. Lance started to run for the base of the ship to help Pidge, before Shiro stopped him. 

“Lance, you need to stay with the team.” Shiro stated calmly, like he wasn’t telling Lance to stay behind while their friend was possibly dead.  
“What? No, no, I’m going to help Pidge. You’re the leader, you need to stay here. If anything happens to you, the team would fall apart.” Lance argued.  
Shiro raised a worried eyebrow. “You functioned just fine without me before. You’re the one we can’t stand to lose.” Shiro seemed genuinely upset of the blue paladin’s doubt. “You stay here. You’re the leader now.”  
“But-” Lance couldn’t even protest before Shiro was running down the narrow halls of the base.  
And God, Lance would have protested. He couldn’t be a leader. He couldn’t be a leader like Shiro could. If Shiro got hurt…

He pushed that thought as far away from his brain as humanly possible. He couldn’t stand to lose Shiro so soon after he just came back. 

But he was the leader now. At least for a little bit. 

“Allura, Hunk, have you got a hold of the castle?” Lance tried his best commander voice as he spoke to the remaining paladins. 

“We have. Coran’s attempting to locate Pidge’s coordinates, although he’s unsure how long it’ll take.” Allura spoke with concern as Hunk bought up a map of the base, with dots indicating where they left the lions. 

“Let’s get to the lions.” Lance said. The two only nodded before dashing down the opposite corridor. 

~~~~~~

Lance stared down at his bowl of food goo.

Him, Allura and Hunk had arrived at the castle not that long ago, after both Pidge and Shiro were safety in the medbay, while Coran secured them both in cryopods for their injuries. It turned out that when Pidge tried to hack into the information bank, the console had exploded right in her face. According to Coran, her back suffered second-degree burns, and he conclused she ducked away from the explosion before it struck her face. Coran said she should be out of the cryopod in less than three doboshes. Her injuries were barely minor, and she was awake when they rescued her. 

Shiro, on the other hand, was a different story. 

He had a bullet lodged into his left shoulder, and a few more severe burns from high-class Galra plasma guns that pierced through his armor and undersuit. They found him passed out, and Pidge was too weak and dazed to explain how it all happened. 

Coran estimated at first look of the black paladin’s bruised body it would be half a movement until he woke up. 

“You should really eat.” Hunk pointed out, both worry and sadness plastered on his face.  
“I’m not hungry.” Lance responded as Allura and Coran entered the dining area with the gentle swish of the door opening.  
“They’re both in stable condition.” Allura announced, grabbing her own bowl of food goo from the end of the table and sitting down at the head of the table.  
“We’re expecting Pidge to wake up soon. The cryopod seems to believe her injuries are very minor.” Coran announced, pushing Lance’s untouched bowl of goo closer to him, seemingly wanting him to eat after the mission, despite Lance still insisting he was full.  
“...and Shiro?” Lance asked, looking up at Coran with unintended puppy-dog eyes.  
Coran looked down at his feet, looking as if he was a doctor about to tell Lance a family member had passed “...A movement.” Coran said sadly. “..or more. You can go down and sit with him if you’d like-”  
Lance jolted up from his seat, pushing the worn Altean metal on the legs of the chair scraping against the floor of the Ancient Castle. He couldn’t seem to care about whatever small amounts of damage he had done, instead sprinting out of the dining room with a renewed energy. 

~~~~~~

The medical bay was cold. It was always cold, whether the cryopods were running or not. 

Pidge had woken up a quintent ago, and was settled into her room with heaps of blankets provided by Hunk, as well as her favorite peanut butter cookies. Allura has given her strict orders to rest, but Lance knew she was snuggled under layers of blankets, snacking on a cookie while looking over maps and star trails for their next mission. 

Shiro's fate was still uncertain. 

Coran said it would be another four quintents at best. The bullet wound was what was apparently having the most trouble healing. Allura explained that the crypopod was trying to rebuild tissue where the bullet had ripped through his skin, and such it would take longer than the burn Pidge had. 

Lance hadn’t left the medbay. He couldn’t. Something was compelling him to stay with Shiro, stay by his side as his body shook and his face crumpled up in pain with every nightmare he experienced.  
Lance wanted to help him then. Wanted to hold him in his arms and tell him he’s okay, that he’s safe, that the team would never let anything happen to him. Lance wouldn’t let anything hurt him. 

All the bowls of food goo Hunk had brought down grew cold, started to spoil even. Lance couldn’t bring himself to eat.  
Allura said he was going to starve.  
Hunk said he’d force food down his throat if he had to. 

On the third day, he ate. 

Slowly, painfully forced the food down his throat. He looked at Shiro, secure in the healing pod. He felt like this was his doing. 

If only he had gone to help Pidge instead of Shiro. Then he wouldn’t be forced to stay asleep, nightmares plaguing him throughout it all. 

He felt sick as he bought the spoon to his lips. 

“Lance. Please don’t be so hard on yourself.” Allura accent rang loud behind him. He haven’t even heard her enter the medbay. 

She sat down next to his crossed legged form on the steps leading up to Shiro’s cryopod.  
“I’m fine, Allura.” His voice was raspy from disuse.  
“Shiro is going to be okay.” She continued, ignoring Lance’s lie of being fine. “He’s been through worse wounds in battle. Once he wakes up, everything will go back to normal.” She made an honest attempt at trying to soothe him by rubbing slow circles into his back, but somehow it just made him feel worse.  
“It should’ve been me.” He said quietly, in such a low voice he wasn’t sure Allura even heard. He hoped she didn’t.  
Everything stopped at once.  
The moving hand on his back came to an abrupt halt, the faint sound of Allura’s breathing slowed down to nothing. And perhaps it was just his imagination, but he swore the beeping of the various medical machines running ceased.  
Allura looked as if she wanted to talk, wanted to say something, but words failed her. She stumbled, incoherent sounds fell from her mouth.  
“Don’t.” She spit out finally, breathing heavy, voice as serious as Lance had ever heard, even during dangerous battles. “Don’t say that.”  
She audibly swallowed before continuing.  
“Shiro wouldn't have put you in charge if he thought you were just expendable, Lance.” The medbay lights seemed to dim, despite nobody but Lance, Allura, and a still, unconscious Shiro behind cryopod glass being in the room. Allura's pink marks glowed faintly in the darkness, a weak fluorescent light.  
Shiro's cryopod shown blue light in their faces, and Allura took a deep breath before continuing.  
“When I delivered Pidge her breakfast this morning, you know what she asked, Lance?” She looked at him with saddened eyes. “She asked if you were okay. Hunk's been trying to give you food and steaming liquid chocolate for the past three quintents. Coran's been worried sick, trying to find a quicker way for Shiro to heal because we all know this is breaking you up inside.” She spilled out so much information, so many words at once, they felt like bubbles floating by his head and he had to catch each and every one of them before they flew away. “If the one I loved was struggling, I would be worried as well.” Allura finished, dropping the last sentence like it was nothing.  
“W-who said anything about love!” Lance protested, all remaining bubbles of various information popping in unison.  
“If you don't know, then you're officially the last one in space not to catch on to your little crush.” Allura teased, gently elbowing him in the side and earning a little giggle as a reaction. It took the tension away of being told everybody knew about a crush you didn't even know you had.  
“I'll get Hunk to make some more steaming liquid chocolate for you.” Allura said as she stood up, high heels clicking on the porcelain, polished floor. 

~~~~~

Later that day, with a blanket draped over his shoulders and two mugs of hot chocolate, piled high with what looked to be purple space marshmallows, the cryopod door fizzed out right in front of his eyes. 

The light blue barrier faded slower than Lance remembered, and Shiro started to fall as soon as the cover was lifted. 

He was heavy, sure, but he was also limp. The cryopod almost left them in a post-anesthesia state. Shiro barely opened his eyes for a second when he realized it was Lance holding him, letting the younger paladin bring Shiro to the small fort of blankets he's accumulated over the last few quintents. 

Shiro was content to sit against a stack of folded blankets. Lance slowly lifted a water pouch to his lips, watching as Shiro wrapped his tired lips around the straw with no protest, sipping the cold liquid before relaxing against the coziness of the makeshift fort. Lance ran to get a few more things, namely a wet washcloth more blankets and pillows. 

Shiro laid his head against Lance's shoulder as soon as he sat down, and soon Shiro's warm breath against the fabric of his thin t-shirt was sending intense feelings of fervor down his spine. 

“Thank you.” Shiro rasped, just barely a whisper.  
“For what?” Lance asked, dotting the coolness of the wet washcloth along some of the sweat sticking to Shiro's forehead.  
“For everything.” Shiro lazily responded, curling up even more into Lance's gentle touch. “For leading. For being there for me. Everything.” His words were slightly slurred, but thanks to Lance's extended time around babies and young children he could understand the words immediately.  
Lance would be lying if hearing those words out of Shiro's mouth didn't leave his heart fluttering and mind already starting millions of daydreams.  
“My p-pleasure.” Was all he could muster. 

Shiro fell asleep on Lance's shoulder, with a rough rag being moved across his forehead, brushing over his bang of white. 

Lance fell asleep with his head against Shiro's, all of his worries having melted away at the few words of reassurance Shiro gave.

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> [Tumblr](https://galrafloofandlove.tumblr.com)! || [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GalraFloof)


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